"This was meant to be the center of the universe before I was betrayed." Apocalypse said as he raised his hands. "Now. It will be."
The city was demolished by his power and rebuilt into a large grey pyramid covered in what seemed to be cybertronic lines. Charles and Simone could only watch on in horror as lives were torn apart before their very eyes.
"A gift..." Apocalypse formed a helmet from the sand handing it to Erik. "From the past you left behind. And the future that lies ahead. You, will reach down, my son, deep into the Earth. Rip everything they built from the ground. Wipe clean this world. And we will lead those that survive to a better one."
"And my wife and I?" Charles called out gaining the false gods attention. "Are we to play a role in this madness?"
"You, Charles, have the most important role of all and you're wife will be excellent leverage should you attempt to put up a fight." He replied and with a gesture of his hand Angel came over picking Charles up and carrying him to the new temple via another portal from Apocalypse, Simone being forced to follow by the false god himself.
"You're just another false god." Charles said as he was set down on an alter, Simone once again bound kneeling on the floor, afraid to use her ability now that she was in the presence of metal for fear of what they would do to Charles. "And whoever's left to follow you when this is all over." Apocalypse shoved Charles so he was laying down. "They will betray you again."
"You're wrong, Charles." Apocalypse replied binding him to the alter. "For the first time in a thousand lifetimes... I have you. For all my gifts, I've yet to possess the one I needed most." Charles's face fell, his panicked eyes glancing to Simone, her face a mask of shock. "To be... everywhere. To be... everyone."
Apocalypse looked off for a moment as if sensing something.
"You're insane." Simone spat out only for Angel to back hand her into unconsciousness.
"Shut up!" Angel snapped.
"Get away from her!" Charles let out some explicative detailing his abhorrence to her treatment.
"She should learn to respect those above her." Apocalypse sneered down at Simone. "Go, join the others." Apocalypse told Angel who lifted off the ground and took off. "Protect me until the transference is complete."
-0-
Everyone in the monitor room was watching the feed as weapon x tore through their soldiers with ease. The ground was littered with their bodies and blood was everywhere on every surface.
"He's in the central halls."
"Engaging target, Sector 5."
"We can't stop h... !"
"Hey!"
"I just lost the feed."
"What's going on here?"
"Hey!"
"I'll be right back." Stryker left the monitor room.
"Move!"
"Hey!"
"Stay where you are!"
The last soldier was slaughtered and the four teens ran past him with looks of horror at the mutilation. They came upon the man before a door that led out into the frozen woods, snow blowing in through the door. He whirled around on them with a snarl, stalking toward them. Scott made to take off his glasses to stop the impending attack.
"Scott, wait." Jean said then slowly approached the man, his claws sliding back into her hands.
'I can help you.' Jean reached up, the man grabbing one of her hands starring into her eyes before slowly letting go. She removed his head gear letting it fall to the side then returned to her hands to either side of his head, closing her eyes in concentration, the man's eyes slipping closed. 'Logan.'
They both opened their eyes, the mans eyes leaving hers as he removed the screws from his body as well as the belt from his hips. He looked at her one last time, gazing briefly to the others as well before turning and running out of the door into the woods.
"What did you do to him?" Scott asked as they watched him go.
"I found a piece of his past and gave it back to him." Jean replied. "Just a few memories I could reach."
"I hope that's the last we'd seen of that guy." Scott retorted.
"Let's get the others." Hope said leading them back down the halls to the containment unit only to find the doors still locked. "Scott, can you blow it open?"
"The others might be to close, they might get caught in the blast." Scott said.
"Then Kurt and I will go warn them in the monitor room, Jean will tell you when they're clear." Hope looked to Jean who nodded.
Kurt took Hope's hand and with a bamf they were just outside the monitor room. Upon entering they both reeled back at the sight of all the dead, Kurt making the sign of the cross and saying a small prayer before. They moved around the bodies to the large window that looked down on the containment unit.
"Kurt." Hank said in surprise.
"Hope!" Raven called out as soon as she came into view. Kurt spoke gesturing to the door, but no one understood them, pointing to their ears.
"They can't hear us." Hope said looking around and spotting the comm system, pressing the button.
"Stay away from the..." Kurt tried again, but the comm was broken and only caught part of his message.
"The what?" Moira called out.
"Th... door...Stay away from the..." Hope tried.
"Get away from the door!" They realized and rushed to the other side of the prison.
"On three. One. Two." Kurt looked at his two fingers, realizing his mistake right as the door was blasted in by Scott. They quickly rushed through the hole where Jean and Scott were waiting for them.
"We know where the Professor is." Jean said.
"I think we might have a way out of here." Scott added.
"Well, you've been busy." Raven commented.
"We had a... a little help." Scott said as they ran down the hall. "Let's go."
"Where's Hope?" Raven questioned.
"Watch out!" Scott called out as Kurt and Hope appeared in front of him.
"Oh, sorry." Kurt said.
"Are you all ok?" Hope asked in concern as she ran.
"Fine, been in worse than this." Hank replied reassuringly.
"This way." Scott called out as they led the others back to the hanger where the jet was.
"Nice." Hank said looking over the impressive jet.
"Hey, Hank. Do you think you can fly this thing?" Raven asked looking over the jet.
"Yeah, I can figure it out." Hank nodded.
"Hey, guys." Scott said opening up some containers. "Flight suits."
"You got your warplane." Raven said to Hank. "Let's go to war."
"Right, everyone suit up."
Once dressed in the flight suits they boarded the plan taking off as fast as they could. It was silent in the jet, everyone thinking of what was to come. Raven sat on one wide of the plane with Jean and Scott while Hope Peter and Kurt were on the other. Moira and Hank were acting as their pilots.
"Were you scared?" Jean asked suddenly, looking to Raven. "That day in DC, were you scared?"
"No." Raven said straight away, but then noticed how afraid they all were. "But I was scared on my first mission. I was on a plane like this with my friends. About your age. We called ourselves the X-Men." Raven looked to Scott. "Your brother was there. We used to call him Havoc. He was a real handful, but... when it came down to it, he was very brave."
"What happened to the rest of the kids that went with you?" Kurt asked. "The X-Men."
"Simone, Hank, and I are the only ones left." Raven said sadly. "I couldn't save the rest of them. I told you, I'm not a hero."
"Well, you're a hero to us." Jean said. "Seeing you that day on TV changed my life."
"My too." Kurt said.
"My too." Peter nodded. "I mean, I still live in my mom's basement, but..." Peter sighed. "Everything else is...Well, it's pretty much the same." Everyone laughed a bit. "I'm a total loser."
Suddenly Hope let out a gasp, her hands shooting her head.
"Hope? What is it? What's wrong?" Kurt looked to her in concern, Raven unbuckling herself a kneeling in front of the girl.
"The earth, someone is…is ripping apart the earth, I can feel it." Hope said as Kurt reached out taking one of her hands in his, her eyes screwed shut against the strange feeling she was receiving. "They're using the metal in the earth to destroy everything."
"Erik." Raven breathed out.
"Seventh wonder, 12 o'clock." Hank called out, Raven stood to her feet going to the front where they could see the metal being ripped form the earth along with anything man made.
"He has the Professor in the center of the pyramid." Jean said fearfully. "He's going to transfer his consciousness into the Professor.
"If he does that, he'll have the power to control every mind in the world." Hope's face paled.
"What the hell is that?" Moira called out.
"It's Erik." Raven said and Peter zoomed from his seat, stopping behind Hank.
"You guys help Nightcrawler get into the pyramid." Raven ordered. "Get Charles. I'll take care of Erik."
"How are you going to get through that?"
"I can get you in there." Peter replied. "I came here for him. Let me help you."
"The rest of you, get Charles on this plane and get him out of here." Raven said.
"We're not leaving without you!" Kurt said.
"Don't worry." Peter assured him. "We'll catch up."
"Hold on." Moira said as they came in for a landing. They quickly left the plane as soon as it set down, walking out into ravaged city.
"Hank, you go with the kids." Raven said. "Moira will be waiting on the plane."
"Wait." Scott said nervously.
"What?" Raven looked to him.
"Not all of us can fully control our powers." Scott said.
"Then, don't." Raven said. "You need to embrace them." Raven reverted to her blue form. "We all do."
Hope nodded reaching up and taking her gloves and then she reached down taking off her boots. Scott and Kurt watched in awe as she transformed before their eyes, having never seen what she really looked like when powered up.
Bark covered her skin like armor and her hair became a beautiful wild mixture of vines, leaves, and flowers. Her face was free of bark, it looked like it was carved from living jade and her eyes turned green with darker green irises. The flight suit she wore ripped from the knees down and from her elbows down as well. Kurt felt his tail flicking back and forth as he forced himself to look away, this was not the time to fawn.